Apple’s iOS 6 to add privacy controls for user contacts

Leaked details from iOS 6 show that Apple has beefed up privacy controls for user contacts, something the company was criticized for earlier this year.

(Credit: Apple)

Apple will offer users a way to manage which applications have permission to access their contact information as part of a new privacy control panel that’s coming in iOS 6.

The feature comes in tandem with a new privacy pop-up that asks whether users want to give a particular application access to contacts, as pointed out by MacRumors today.

Apple said it would add such a feature as part of a “future software release,” back in February, though the company did not specify when exactly that would be.

At the company’s annual developer conference earlier this week, Apple took the wraps off iOS 6,

which will be released to consumers in the fall. That software was given to developers under a non-disclosure agreement, however, details beyond what Apple shared during its press conference have since leaked out.

Demands for a specialized address book privacy settings came after controversy when Path — a popular iOS and Android application — was found to be collecting user contact information without permission. Path quickly issued an apology on the issue, saying that it was using that data to alert users to when their friends joined the social network. The company then introduced an updated version that required users to opt-in to the feature.

Apple responded by saying “apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines.” Read More